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Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Pope offers advice to Christians engaged in politics (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV received leading members of the European People’s Party today and offered advice to Christians engaged in politics: first and foremost, “rediscovering and embracing the Christian heritage from which you come, while still maintaining the necessary distinction between prophetic religious witness—reserved to the ecclesial community—and Christian witness expressed through concrete political choices.”

Apr. 25 Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist; <em>Major Rogation Day</em>, Feast

Today is the Feast of St. Mark, the Evangelist, the author of the second Gospel, was the son of Mary whose house at Jerusalem was the meeting place of Christians, where St. Peter sough refuge after having been freed from prison. He was baptized and instructed by St. Peter. He accompanied St. Paul and his own cousin St. Barnabas in the evangelization of Cyprus before he became the companion and secretary of St. Peter in Rome about the year 42 A.D.. He wrote his Gospel about the year 50 A.D. His Gospel is a record of St. Peter's preaching about Our Lord and pays special attention to the head of the Apostles, and emphasizes the miraculous powers of the Savior. The Gospel was written for Roman Gentile converts. It rarely quotes the Old Testament, and is careful to explain Jewish customs, rites and words. It excels in portraying the emotions and affections of both Christ and His hearers. St. Mark preached in Egypt, especially in Alexandria and was martyred there by the heathen.

Pontiff's brother denies report that Pope planned to visit US in 2026 (NBC 5 Chicago)

John Prevost, one of Pope Leo’s two brothers, denied a report that Pope Leo planned to visit the United States in 2026.

NBC 5 Chicago reported:

There are no revealed plans for Pope Leo to visit the U.S. any time soon, but was there a time when plans fell through because of the acrimony espoused by the president? Prevost says no.

“I think one thing that has to be made clear is when some newscaster announced that the Pope canceled a trip to the United States. That’s not true,” he said. “At no time, was the Pope planning a trip the United States this year.”

The Pontiff is scheduled to deliver a livestream talk to Americans on July 3, when he receives the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center.

New Westminster archbishop elected president of bishops' conference (Diocese of Westminster)

Archbishop Richard Moth, the new archbishop of Westminster, was elected by his confrères as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

Archbishop Moth succeeds Cardinal Vincent Nichols, his predecessor in Westminster, who has led the episcopal conference since 2009.

“For me, mission is very much a priority: a mission grounded in prayer and our celebration of the liturgy, and a mission that enables us to bring the light of the Gospel and the peace of Christ to the world in which we live,” said Archbishop Moth.

Buenos Aires archbishop laments polarization (OSV News)

The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, decried political polarization in Argentina at a Mass marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’s passing.

“More than ever, Argentina needs that culture of encounter the Pope spoke about so often,” Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva preached on April 21. “Let’s see when we’re going to stop looking at each other as enemies. We’re not even able to sit in the same church pew,”

On the anniversary, President Javier Milei called the late Pontiff the “most important Argentine in history.”

USCCB files Supreme Court brief in Ohio religious-freedom case (USCCB)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), joined by the General Council of the Assemblies of God and the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists, filed a brief in support of Daniel Grand in the case of Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio.

“Religious freedom is not a privilege to be rationed by administrative gatekeepers,” the USCCB noted in its brief, filed on April 10 and published yesterday on the USCCB’s website. “It is a constitutional right that federal courts are obliged to protect as soon as the government threatens to burden it.”

The brief explained:

Daniel Grand is a Jewish man who opened his home for prayer. The City of University Heights responded by ordering him to stop in cease-and-desist letter. That cease-and-desist letter was not an invitation to negotiate; it was a credible threat of enforcement against constitutionally and statutorily protected religious exercise.

Two attorneys for the law firm First and Fourteenth prepared the brief.

Vatican official, in US, emphasizes importance of liturgical prayer, beauty (OSV News)

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, delivered a lecture at the Catholic University of America on April 22 on the importance of prayer, especially liturgical prayer.

Archbishop Fisichella said that liturgical beauty is essential “in order to evoke in every believer the supreme reality of encounter with the mystery of God.”

Coalition Letter Urges U.S. Senate to Extend Defunding of Abortion Industry

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